Eveready to sell select properties

Eveready Industries India Ltd (EIIL) is planning to sell some of its properties to retire its debt, which has become an overhang for the company.

One property each in Hyderabad and Noida will be sold, a board-level source told The Hindu . EIIL's debt stands at around Rs.250 crore. After reporting an operational loss in the fourth quarter of 2011-12, the company ended the year with a pared down profit of Rs.24.5 crore against Rs.68.2 crore in the year before.

However, after adjusting for finance and other charges, it ended the year with a net loss of Rs.79.8 crore against a net profit of Rs.39.34 crore in 2010-11.

Net sales remained flat at Rs.980.3 crore against Rs.951.4 crore.

In the past, too, EIIL has sold its properties to raise funds. In 2005-06, it sold its property in Guindy in Chennai for Rs.72 crore.

Sources said that workers at the Hyderabad battery-making unit, where the company had around 25 acres in the Moulali Industrial Estate had already been separated. The Noida property measures about 10 acres in a vacant plot adjacent to the existing factory.